The Westin Michigan Avenue Chicago — Hotel in Chicago

I booked The Westin Michigan Avenue Chicago expecting a memorable stay for my birthday, trusting in the Marriott Bonvoy standard, of which I am a member. What I experienced was disappointing and frustrating from the beginning.||||Upon check-in, I was informed of a mandatory $25 USD daily charge that had never been mentioned during the reservation. This amount could only be used within the hotel and, to my surprise, was not cumulative, which meant that each day I was forced to spend exactly that amount, whether I wanted to or not. Moreover, it always ended up being more, between $27 and $29 USD, and this excess did accumulate on the bill. Even if I didn’t want to consume anything on a given day, I couldn’t use the leftover balance the next day, which was unnecessarily complicated and frustrating. This situation marked the beginning of a bad experience, but I accepted it because it didn’t make sense to look for another hotel at that point.||||Months earlier, I had exchanged emails with the Econcierge to see if it was possible to get an upgrade since it was my birthday. He mentioned it would depend on availability but that they would try to do it. However, my room on the 5th floor was far from an upgrade: the mattress squeaked, the sheets were old, the sofa was broken, the light switches looked like they were from the 80s, the hinges were bent, and there was no attention to detail that I would expect from a Westin. Additionally, the noise from the street was constant, to the point of making it impossible to get a decent night's sleep. This is embarrassing to mention, but every time the guest in the neighboring room went to the bathroom, I could hear everything, which added to a very uncomfortable experience. I have videos of the squeaky mattress and photos of the broken sofa, the deteriorated bathroom, and the constant noise to show the terrible condition of the room.||||To make matters worse, when I tried to connect to the WiFi, I discovered that the internet had an exorbitant price of $18.95 USD for standard and $21.95 USD for premium, in 2024. For a hotel of this category, not offering free WiFi is unacceptable, so I called the front desk in frustration, and they told me to enter my name and room number to use it. However, the poor information about whether I would be charged only added to my discomfort. This was yet another example of hidden costs that make this hotel fall short of even the minimum expectations.||||The overall service was poor. One of the days, there was no cleaning service in the room, and the hotel hallways and doors were dirty and poorly lit, giving me the impression of a severe lack of maintenance. Again, I have photos that back up this lack of cleanliness and maintenance, and I include them in this review so that other travelers can judge for themselves.||||At the hotel café, I was informed that I couldn’t pay the difference when exceeding the $25 USD limit on a purchase; everything was automatically added to my account. Additionally, the $25 USD was non-cumulative, so if I didn’t use the full amount in one day, I couldn’t roll over the remaining balance to the next day, which was frustrating and manipulative, forcing me to consume daily at the hotel. Frustrated, I spoke to the manager to try to clarify this situation and express how uncomfortable this system was. However, she confirmed that each excess would accumulate with no option to adjust the bill at the moment and that the $25 USD would continue to be non-cumulative for future days. This approach only increased my annoyance, to the point of fearing that even the courtesy coffee in the room would be charged, given that I had already faced several unpleasant surprises on the bill.||||This experience ruined my birthday and my trust in Westin, a hotel that promises much but delivers very little. I chose this hotel because of the Westin name and its location on the Magnificent Mile, the best area in Chicago, expecting a quality stay, but it was nothing short of a nightmare.||||If you’re looking for a better option on the Magnificent Mile, I can confidently recommend the Residence Inn Chicago Downtown Magnificent Mile: it’s a few blocks closer to the Bean and the architecture tour, offers included breakfast, and the staff genuinely cares about details and provides friendly service. Plus, for Starbucks lovers, this hotel is right next to the Starbucks...

‘‘Twas The Eight (8) Day Nightmare Holiday Stay” (12/24/23 -1/1/2024) - This review required a mental recovery to even post. It was horrific and the ONLY reason I completed the reservation is United was having trouble rebooking me AND my daughter really wanted our annual time at the Hotel we always used since 2018.

Before the recap.. NOTE that I emailed the GM (D. Luneau) while on the property 12/27/23 & 1/1/24 from Texas..still NO reply from him.

Fast forward to 2:20am January 1st as it was the ULTIMATE. I thought I was dreaming people were fighting in the hallway. I wake up and see my adult son upset. Then I realized what I was really hearing - woman screaming, whipping sounds,etc… FULL ON adulting in 2645. My son is a Texas Peace Officer and said Security needs to be on this now. He called… Nothing. Another call… told 2 guys were coming up. - Mind you now my young daughter is awake. - I called security and was patched through to Joel. Per Joel his guys heard a loud TV by the elevator so they addressed it. I reminded him I reported 2645 which isn’t by the elevator, said he’d resend someone. - The couple was getting LOUDER so my son hit the wall to maybe alert them. No Go. We continued to wait until finally my son had to beat on their room door as Security was pointless. - Chicago PD was my next call as they don’t even address the marijuana smoking (with the no smoking signs). Joel said he would monitor 23rd floor although I was on 26th.

Okay back to pre making reservation; on Bonvoy app I noticed a Destination Fee so I called to see what that was all about. “Cody” (a manager) answered, explained, we discussed my foot, he OFFERED to waive fee as his Mom had recently had double replacement procedure. I was told after I make reservation to call him back so he could handle it. Which I did. (Make note of this). - We arrived December 24th to a low occupancy hotel. For a Titanium Elite patron I wasn’t impressed with the room size as clearly no upgrade, but honestly liked the Lake view. Excluding my neighbors constantly slamming his door 🚪 (giving I need to go smoke vibes); I am thinking I can handle it. - Christmas Day in the Club Lounge with only my family in there watching TV a very entitled man comes in, touch food with his hands and pick up the remote and change the station. Forgot etiquette and asking ‘are you watching this’. - Tuesday Dec 26th just tolerating door 🚪 slams. - 7am Wednesday my now new neighbors on left having a banging adult experience that woke me up but also sounded like could be maintenance or something. I called guest services who said they’d confirm. Less than 30 minutes kids being egged on by parents were SO LOUD like it was 2pm in NYC Central Park. Called guest services again and I was being apologetic for calling but before I could finish she said ‘the children no worries they are checking out’. - Now I am thinking please as this is too early for ALL this commotion. - Then bam room 2645 my door on the right gets on her cell using a complete OUTSIDE voice before 9am!!! - Another Manager (Nicole) did call me and said ‘We can’t ask a guest to move rooms’ ..Excuse me as I never asked for that! The hotel can make people aware their voices are exceeding a normal tone correct?? -Well 2645 did say she was going shopping so I blew my day to catch a nap. - As when she returned we were back to screaming conversations. - So I decided to audio tape it as not to seem to be exaggerating anything. - 8:40p after more than an hour of audio footage I go to the desk. While speaking to April, she calls Cody the Manager over. he seemed stressed and was very condescending with me. As a 30 year practicing Attorney, I am good at reading body language and catching word usage. He even brought up he’d done more for me than he should have. I chose to walk away instead of escalating a situation (figured we both needed to cool off). I mean why remove a fee and then throw it in my face!!?? - At this point I just wanted to return home 🏡- Each day was just like Gound Hogs Day (honestly)

PLEASE...

I have stayed at this hotel twice and I do not expect to be back. I want to start by saying that the staff, housekeepers, front desk, and restaurant staff are all wonderful, but my issues are with the property itself.

This hotel is not quiet at all. During both of my stays I had issues with the noise level in the room from guests in the hall and adjacent rooms. During my most recent stay I heard an argument between hotel security and a guest as if they were in the room with me, even though I was on the sofa in the furthest area away from the door. Throughout my stay I could hear every word people spoke in the hallway, TVs and phone calls in the adjacent rooms, as well as my neighbors coughing and sneezing. Even in the bathtub I could clearly hear my neighbor talking on her phone. It seems the walls are very thin and there was a 1 inch gap between the floor and the door that let all the outside sounds and light into my room. My first stay I was across from the elevators which were very loud, but my second stay was equally as bad because I was next to some maintenance closet that had staff slamming the door at all hours. Do not expect a quiet room at this hotel, especially if you are a light sleeper.

Also, despite having the Do Not Disturb sign on my door, housekeepers would still knock and call my room to see if I wanted my room cleaned. I understand being proactive, but I feel this should not have happened with the Do Not Disturb sign.

The rooms do not seem to be thoroughly cleaned and I had two issues. During my most recent stay I had to call housekeeping because when arriving to my room I found someone else’s nail clippings all over the carpeting. Thankfully they were able to come and vacuum the room in less than 15 minutes which was appreciated. However, during my initial stay I found “chocolate” stains on the couch by the window which made me question the cleanliness of the rest of the pillows and carpeting.

The in room thermostats also ruined any chance of having a good night’s sleep without waking up boiling. I understand it is important to save energy, but both rooms that I stayed in had thermostats with motion sensors that pointed away from the bed. So you’d wake up at 4am boiling only to find that the thermostat went into ECO mode because it didn’t detect any motion while you were asleep and out of range of the sensor. During both of my stays, anytime we’d move around at night we made sure to wave our hand in front of the thermostat so we could keep the room at a reasonable temperature. I initially stayed at the end of summer and would constantly find out that the thermostat raised its set point 6-8˚F on its own. The aggressive thermostat was extremely frustrating to deal with and I constantly woke up uncomfortable.

Finally, the destination fee felt like a desperate cash grab. They charge a $25 per night destination fee, but will credit your $25 for a food and beverage purchase charged to the room. However, when you get your final invoice the destination fee was actually $29.36 per night with taxes. During my stay I was thinking about the fee and how it feels like a scam. Leisure travellers will feel obligated to spend money at the restaurant or café that they wouldn’t have ever wanted to spend, often having their final bills come to over $25 dollars for one food item plus tip. Business travellers who aren’t paying for their hotel won’t care about the destination fee so Westin can just pocket the extra money. I think it’s just a simple cash grab, but I didn’t expect this from a brand like Westin. However, they were upfront about the $25 per night fee when booking through Marriott (even though it was actually $29 at checkout).

For these reasons, I do not think I will be back to this Westin. I have stayed in many other Westin properties without issue, but this one was really disappointing. For the area it seems to be a good price, but in the future I will be looking at the surrounding properties. I can’t justify spending $1,100 for 5 nights to have a...